A RETURN TO KINGDOMS, BOOK 1
Word Count:147,621
For nearly two hundred years, the seventeen territories of the world have lived in peace, each swearing never to repeat the horrors of the largest war there ever was. But when Lady Nara of house Ashhan...
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Ocono 4th, 3328 A.G
While those from the two thousand and five guards who swore themselves to Nara's army, who had families- said goodbye to theirs- Maude was getting ready to do the same with hers. Because despite knowing she was a bastard, most of the family did not treat her as such.
She had her two sacks, her sword and knives, but she still felt so out of place when she looked in the mirror. Before the Great War, each fighter had armor. Now, it was limited to only the guards who were gifted it by their lord or lady( or queen) or could afford it from extra work- which was rare. Near the end of the war, most armor in existence was destroyed by a faulty bluefire dragon at an assembly of lords and ladies- so the price went up and never quite came down. Noble families almost never bought themselves sets, as most stupidly viewed themselves to be safe- with guards who were supposed to keep them safe. The assembly would be the only one of it's kind because of the risks of having the leaders of each territory and their armies in one place at the same time. Had the bluefire dragons been stored closer, they too would have died.
Maude told herself she'd have a set made once they stopped somewhere long enough, but she had no idea then how chaotic things would quickly get.
She pulled her breeches up and denied the servant who offered to carry her bags. She dismissed her, then took one last look in the mirror. She looked like herself- happy to be out of the uncomfortably thick dresses her mother normally made her wear. Her sword- perfect for her size, was strapped to her back. Her knives fit in a belt around her waist for easy access. While she wouldn't need them for quite a while, she felt comfortable with them closer to her.
It hit her then that she was probably the first ward who'd ever asked to be one, and of a woman she held hate for just half a day before. She couldn't have cared less whose side she fought for, as long as she got to fight- but she did believe in Nara a bit more now. After all, the woman had managed to bring a territory under her reign with no bloodshed- despite being from the second smallest and least populated one on the continent.
Maude knew Nara'd gotten lucky, but the way she spoke was as if she'd lived a hundred years. She could picture her winning the coming war, and Maude wouldn't mind being on the winning side.
She picked her sacks up, then walked to the great hall to say goodbye to her family. Nara and Renard and their people had already ridden out to the fighter's camp, but had promised to wait on their ward's arrival before riding out.
The great hall felt empty as always, with the family- a few servants and around a hundred common people standing to send her off. Maude gulped. Once she left the hall, it would likely be years before she saw any of them again. By then, all but Andrew would likely be married and have children.
If Ade or Ysabelle were stupid enough to marry someone of equal status and have themselves be sent off to a different territory when they married, instead of their betrothed moving to house Beckett as a condition- it may even have been a decade or two.
